WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is exhorting a Florida minister to "listen to those better angels" and call off his plan to engage in a Quran-burning protest this weekend.
Obama tells ABC's "Good Morning America" he hopes the Rev. Terry Jones listens to the pleas of people who have asked him to call off the plan. The president called it a "stunt."
Obama also said in the interview broadcast Thursday morning that what Jones proposes "is completely contrary to our values as Americans. This country has been built on the notion of freedom and religious tolerance."
Obama declared: "This is a recruitment bonanza for al-Qaida."